Page 34 of Full Coverage (Boys of Fall)

“No, you don’t look normal,” Katie said. “Did something happen?”

“Something like what?” Randi asked, taking another big swallow of coffee.

“Something good, obviously,” Katie said. “What is it?”

Sex with Nolan could make her perky after four hours of sleep? Huh, she might need to keep him around. She felt a smile slowly spread. She’d love to keep him around.

“There.That,” Katie said, pointing at Randi’s mouth. “What are you smiling about?”

“I’m seeing someone,” she admitted.

Katie’s smile was equally big. “That’s wonderful. Who is it?”

Randi looked around. The diner was busy this time of day. They were a ranching community. Ranchers got up with the sun. And everyone in town who depended on the ranchers’ business got up with the sun as well. “It’s brand-new. I don’t really know what’s going to happen. But he asked me to go to New York with him for a big party in a couple of weeks.”

“Nolan Winters,” Katie guessed immediately. She nodded. “I think he’s had a crush on you for a while.”

A few months ago, Randi would have waved that off. Or maybe she would have even agreed. But now, after Coach’s party, after the last few days, after last night, she didn’t like the word crush or the insinuation that it was one-sided.

“I really like him,” she said. “He makes me feel…special.”

Katie clearly liked that. “He should.”

Yes. Randi agreed. But they all should. All the guys she’d spent time with should have looked at her like she was the best thing since someone covered a coffee bean in chocolate. They should have wanted to whisk her away to New York. They should have woken her up in the middle of the night and made love to her with their eyes locked on hers like they couldn’t believe she was really there.

But none of them had. Until Nolan. And while all of that sounded a little narcissistic even inherhead, that’s not how it felt. Because she felt the same way. She’d loved not just being the object of his affection, but showing him how she felt too. The body shots, the brownies, the way she went eagerly into his arms each time he woke her—and the time that she’d awakened him—she hoped she showed him that she was just as amazed to be with him.

The waitress took their order and she and her mom chatted about her dad and how his back was feeling, if Katie should paint the kitchen yellow or white, and if Randi should wear her hair up or down for the New York party. They made their way through their eggs and waffles, discussing the touristy highlights of New York and if Randi was scared to fly. She hadn’t even thought about it. She’d never flown, had never really thought she’d have a chance, so she didn’t knowhowshe felt about it.

“But Nolan will be with you,” Katie said. “You won’t be nervous if he’s there.”

The waitress refilled their coffees again and took their plates, and Katie excused herself to the ladies’ room.

Randi sat sipping, and remembering the night before, and blushing at some of the things Nolan had gotten her to say.

Until she heard, “How long is Nolan in town?”

She straightened and glanced over her shoulder. Monica Williams sat facing Randi’s direction in the booth behind her. She couldn’t see the other woman’s face but she knew exactly who it was. Monica’s best friend. Teresa Winters. Nolan’s mother.

Randi knew Teresa, of course. She’d spent her whole life in Quinn and Teresa Winters had been here, working as the receptionist at the dental office, as long as Randi could remember. She’d worked on Teresa’s car a number of times as well. They got along fine. But there was something about sitting back to back with a woman whose son she’d been naked with for the better part of last night that felt funny.

“Oh, he’s going back in a couple of days,” Teresa said to Monica’s question. “He’s just here messing around in between assignments. You know he needs that downtime. He works so hard and does those in-depth stories. Every now and then he needs to blow off some steam and forget about all the demands in the city.”

Randi frowned and triednotto lean back closer to Teresa so she didn’t miss anything. Nolan was just here blowing off steam? Nolan came back every few months, and when he was in town, he made a point of seeing old friends, hanging out and catching up. And checking up on his mom. She’d been married to Nolan’s dad, but he was long gone now. Nolan had been pretty young when his dad took off, by all accounts. It was long enough ago that Randi didn’t remember Nolan ever having a mom and a dad at parents’ day at school or in the audience for school programs and such.

Did he come home to blow off steam and escape from the job pressures? She supposed that made sense.

“I heard he had asked a Quinn girl to go with him to New York,” Monica said. “But no one knows who for sure.”

“Oh, just for a party,” Teresa said dismissively. “He’s just trying to give an old friend a thrill.”

Randi felt her chest tighten. Did Teresa know it was her? Did it matter? Was she right?

“I’m sure there are a million women in San Antonio and New York that would be happy to be on his arm for this big posh party,” Monica said to Teresa.

“Of course,” Teresa said, as if it were obvious. “But think of how fun it would be for Nolan to get to show off his new lifestyle to someone who knew him from high school. Maybe someone that didn’t give him the time of day back then,” Teresa said. “This is his chance to show someone from here what he’s made of himself, up close and personal. I don’t blame him.”

“Nor do I,” Monica said. “He deserves the kudos. The girl will be completely swept off her feet and her head will be spinning.”

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